Honorary Associates of Rationalist International

Prof. Paul Kurtz (USA)

Prof. Paul Kurtz, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Buffalo, is a renowned academic philosopher of high rank. He has moreover the merit of having carried the ideals of secular humanism and rationalism to the broad general public. As a writer of over thirty books and countless articles, as the founder and head of the world's largest freethought publishing house, Prometheus Books, and as the founder editor of Free Inquiry, he has promoted humanist and rationalist thinking and encouraged the spirit of inquiry in his own country and all over the world. As the founder and leader of the Council for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), the Council for Secular Humanism and the Center for Inquiry International, he has created institutions to guard freedom of thought and inquiry. His dedicated work of several decades in service of the liberation of human mind from the bondages of religion, superstition and all kinds of dogmatism, has made a lasting impact on the intellectual climate of our times and stands as a guidepost into a better future. Among his books are: The Transcendental Temptation (1986); Forbidden Fruit (1988); Living Without Religion: Eupraxophy (1989); The New Skepticism (1993); Towards a New Enlightenment (1993); The Courage to Become (1997).

Paul Kurtz is recipient of the International Rationalist Award (2000).